The Chief Judge of Baghdad who succeeded Ibn al-Bukhārī (1)—he was of the Shāfiʿī school (2)—had studied jurisprudence under Abū’l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Khall and others. He had earlier held the posts of judge and preacher in Mecca, may Allah exalt it, and was himself a native of that city. Later he travelled to Baghdad, where he attained high distinction (3) and his circumstances developed as they did. He was eventually removed from office because of an official memorandum said to bear his own handwriting—though some maintained it had been forged; Allah knows best. He remained in his home (4) until he passed away, may Allah have mercy on him.

Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn Abū’l-Qāsim Yaḥyā ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Faḍl ibn Hibat Allāh ibn Barakah ibn Faḍlān (5), the leading Shāfiʿī authority in Baghdad.
He first studied under Saʿīd ibn Muḥammad al-Razzāz (6), professor of the Niẓāmiyyah, then travelled to Khurāsān and learned from Shaykh Muḥammad al-Zubaydī, a disciple of al-Ghazālī. When he returned to Baghdad he had mastered the science of dialectics and the two Fundamentals (al-uṣūlayn). He came to be regarded as the foremost scholar of the city; students and jurists benefited greatly from him. A school was built for him and he taught there; his fame spread widely and his pupils became many. He was devoted to Qurʾān recitation and the public transmission of ḥadīth, and he was a pleasant, kind-hearted, and witty shaykh. Among his poetry are the following lines (7):

If you would reach the dwellings of the noble,
Then take the path of generosity and equity.
And if a tyrant should wrong you, leave him be;
For Time itself will requite him—and that suffices.

[Then the year 596 began]

The year opened (8) with al-Malik al-Afdal, at the head of the Egyptian army, besieging Damascus, the city of his uncle al-ʿĀdil (9). He had cut off its rivers and its supplies, so that scarcely any bread or water remained. The situation dragged on; they dug a trench from the district of al-Lawwān to Yalda (10) to prevent the Damascene forces from reaching them. Winter set in, the rains increased, and the mud grew deep; when the